Ring of Fire... Part *01*
by FireLily
Summary: When Illeria meets the Goddess and is taken to the palace, her life is drastically as she suddenly becomes a vital tool in the defeat of the Devillian army...


Illaria looked down at her horse disgustedly, kicking its stomach with the balls of her feet.

'Stupid thing,' she muttered. The horse grunted, as if he quite didn't agree with that and so she'd better rephrase that statement.

'Oh, do shut up,' she told him. 'I can kill you and eat you for dinner, if I must.'

The horse neighed.

'Not that I would,' continued Illaria. 'Oh, gods curse it, I'm arguing with a horse. What will this world come to next?'

As of in response, the heavens opened up and rain came pouring down in sheets, instantly soaking her to the bone.

'Oh dear,' Illaria sighed. 'Now what?'

Her horse suddenly decided to move. It trotted over to a large tree and nickered: an order for Illaria to get off.

She dismounted and cast a dark look at her mount.

'Some horse _you _turned out to be,' she told it with a scowl.

~Some rider _you_ turned out to be,~ came the horse's reply. Illaria gaped at it, then moaned.

'Please tell me my horse didn't just talk to me,' she begged. '_Please _tell me that was my overactive imagination at work again.'

~It wasn't,~ said the horse with obvious relish. ~Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a stall back at the palace with my name on it.~

And with that Illaria's only form of transportation galloped off. Illaria stared after it.

'Wonderful. Just wonderful. Now what am I supposed to do?'

She sat down, back against a log and considered her present situation—which was definitely not very good.

_All right. My horse is gone, my bags are gone, and in the first place I was traveling to nowhere. Why is my life so messed up?_

__Contemplating on how awful her pitiful life was, Illaria didn't notice the black kitten until it was in her lap.

'What on earth—oh! Aren't you sweet?'

Though Illaria didn't like horses much, she had a soft spot for kittens.

The kitten purred and rubbed her leg. Illaria sighed and picked it up.

She gasped—those eyes—

The kitten's eyes were as purple as an amethyst…

'Where have you come from that they have violet eyes?' Illaria asked breathlessly. 'The only other one with violet eyes is Sir Alanna herself…'

Was that her imagination or did the kitten really grin? Illeria was puzzling it out when she sneezed.

Two more sneezes followed the first, all in quick succession of one another.

Illaria rubbed her nose and looked around nervously.

'What is it, my child Illaria?'

Illaria yelped with surprise. She hadn't seen the woman standing there…

She stared at the lady, whose beauty was unearthly and somehow terrifying. Her hair hung in long, black snakes, contrasting with her pale skin; her green eyes glowed. Her looks were far too vivid to be real, realized Illaria, and there was a look of great knowledge buried somewhere, a knowledge that even the greatest people on the earth did not possess and could not ever hope to.

'Who are you?' Illaria whispered. 'Who are you?'

'A more correct question would be 'What are you?'

'Fine, then. What are you?'

The woman laughed and clapped her hands merrily. When she spoke again, her voice had changed.

'I shall repeat that question and ask what you are?'

'I—I—'

'Do you mean to say you don't know what you are?' The woman's voice was so strange, Illaria thought… something, but she couldn't put her finger on it, it kept slipping out of her grasp…

'I know what I am,' said Illaria, 'and I know what you are.'

The woman sat back and listened with apparent great interest.

'What am I, then?'

'A god. More precisely, the Great Mother Goddess.'

The woman nodded, then studied her.

'You don't seem scared,' the Goddess observed.

'Should I be?'

'No. But most are. And you're not bowing.'

'Do you want me to?'

'Not particularly.'

'Well, then, there's no point in doing it, is there?'

The Goddess looked at Illaria with those disconcerting emerald eyes that had such a strange light in them.

'I knew you were different,' the Goddess remarked, 'but not this different. You interest me rather a good deal, Illaria. No one had interested me quite this much since Sir Alanna of Trebond—or rather, I suppose now it's Pirate's Swoop—and Olau. You shall do great things—just as Alanna did.'

'Thank you, milady.'

'You're quite welcome. I suppose you'll be wanting to go somewhere warm.'

'Yes.'

'I can arrange that.'

Illaria realized what the tone in the Goddess' voice was: it was the baying of the wolves and dogs, the kind of sound that is seldom heard lest you live near a woods where the pack hunts.

'Would you, please?' inquired Illaria, coming back to the topic at hand. The Goddess smiled.

'Ah, but young one, I can only do so much. Mithros doesn't like me interfering in mortals' lives too much and I find it the same way… however, I can at least transport you.'

'Thank you very much.'

'Take care of her, Little One,' the Goddess said to the kitten. 'And, Illaria—'

'Take this.'

The Goddess dropped a piece of blazing emerald into Illaria's hand, but before Illaria could move her hand, it fell into her open palm. It wasn't hot.

Illaria gazed up at the terribly beautiful Goddess, eyes full of awe.

'How did you—why of course. You're a goddess.'

'Well spotted. Now, as for transporting you…'

The Goddess waved her slender hand and a silvery, transparent smoke swirled around Illaria.

'Take care… so mote it be,' called the Goddess after her, and those were the last words Illaria heard before black cascaded over her vision…

She awoke to the kitten lapping her face insistently, small, rough tongue wetting her forehead.

'Oh, do get off,' Illeria sighed, brushing him away.

~I'm wounded,~ the cat replied. ~You're being rude.~

~It's not my fault—~ 'Am I talking to a cat?'

~Yes,~ said the kitten, licking his paw. ~Well observed. Now, shall we enter the palace?~

'The palace?'

~Yes. It's right there, after all.~

For the first time, Illeria looked around her.

Sure enough, they were sitting on the outskirts of a wood, looking at the tall, stately palace rising in front of them.

'The palace?' repeated Illeria.

~Yes, the palace. Now that we have that settled, let's go.~

Illeria shrugged and sat up.

The burning emerald fell out of her closed fist, landing on the ground. Illeria picked it up, then searched her pockets for twine.

Nothing.

'Kitty, do you have twine on you?' she said absently.

~Two things: a) my name is not kitty, b) why would a kitten have twine on them?~

'Well, if your name's not Kitty, then what is it?' asked Illeria impatiently. 

~It used to be Faithful, but it's not any more. You should probably come up with a new name for me.~

'What do you want to be called?'

~Ah, so the lady has better manners than even the King's Champion~ the kitten laughed, remembering Alan of Trebond and his—rather, her—friend's suggestions for names.

'Do shut up. I'll name you 'Bellflower' if you aren't quiet.'

The kitten fell silent. Bellflower was not his first choice for a name.

'All right,' Illeria said after a moment of thinking, 'you can be named Snurple.'

~SNURPLE?~

'It was a joke. How about… Thom?'

~Where did that come from?~

'I don't know.' Illeria paused to think. 'It just came out of nowhere, I suppose.'

~Thom was Alanna's brother,~ the kitten said. ~He died at King Jonathan's coronation.~

'I didn't know. Do you want to just stick with 'Faithful?''

~Just name me Erik and be done with it,~ suggested the kitten.

'If you're sure,' agreed a dubious Illeria.

~I'm sure. It doesn't matter. Now, for the palace?~

Illeria sighed and followed the newly christened Erik up the slow rise to the palace.

'Milady, a girl wants a word with you,' a boy told Sir Alanna of Pirate's Swoop and Olau, the Champion of King Jonathan the Third of Conte, ruler of Tortall.

'Send her in,' said Alanna, cleaning her sword hilt.

'As you wish, madam.'

A girl entered a few minutes later, face set and emotionless, black kitten crouched on her shoulder.

'Hello,' the girl greeted Alanna. 'You must be Sir Alanna.'

'Yes. What is it?'

'I'm terribly sorry to bother you, but Erik here said to come to you.'

'Erik?'

'He says you might know him better as Faithful.'

Alanna's face went pale. She automatically reached out for Faithful/Erik, who jumped into her arms.

~Hello, Alanna,~ said the kitten.

~Faithful! How dare you get yourself killed by that wretch Josaine and her axe!~

The kitten cringed.

~I was hoping after over fifteen years, you had forgotten.~

Alanna snorted.

~In your dreams,~ she replied. ~Now, what's this girl doing here and what are you doing with her?~

~The Goddess chose her. She's special… very special…~

~Why, exactly?~

~I'm not quite sure…~

~Well, then. Will she be staying for a while?~

~I think so.~

~Then—~

'Come on, young lady. We're going to see the king.'

'The king? Why?'

'Because,' Alanna said, dragging the girl out the door, 'you need a room while you're here. Besides, I'm sure Jon will want to see Faithful again.'

So the King's Champion pulled Illaria to King Jonathan the Third of Conte, ruler of Tortall.

Did anyone like? *looks around helplessly as people stick their tongues out at her* Anyone? *dodges a flying tomato* Hello?

Thank you to:

**Alec**—I'm glad you like my work, though I don't see Kel/Cleon fanfic for me in the future, **MerlayneQ**—you never fail to make me smile with your LOVELY comments!, **Kira Oneil**—glad you like my stuff!,**Hyper Girl to the Rescue**—never fear, Kel and Neal shall get back together in my songfic series, **umm…**--I sound like Tamora Pierce? That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me!, **Lady Callie**—yes, do read the next part, if I ever post it… **Child of the Stars**—yeah, I'd like to dance in fire, too, that would be FUN!!! **Quartz**—thanks for your lovely comment!, **Team Socket**—thanks so much for always reviewing my fics!!,**JUST SOMEONE**—glad you like, hopefully there will be more soon, **Charlene**—actually, the Stump might find out…, **blinkchick**—I specialize in dialogue!, **Kitty L'Hiver**—actually, one thing's better than mush and that's cliché! And Kiana Caelum's 'Hanging On…' is wonderful too… **Jaelawyn Noble**—as you can see, my fics have gotten longer, **Aurora**—I love mush, too! ::sits down to watch Runaway Bride for the thousandth time::, **Peaches**—yes, definitely a lot of snogging…, **Starlight***-- yes, tres embarrassing. But things can always get worse…, **Sparrow**—I love your comments!!! LOVE them!!!, **Lauren Makensri**—yeah, you have to be in a weird mood to like mush, sometimes…, **Mage Melery**—trust me, I love K/N just as much as you do. If not more… **Ash**—I am VERY into K/N fics. Very!, **Kitty**—thanks for always reviewing my songfics! I'm really glad you like the songs, since I always make them up… **Sepheti—**I didn't mean to use your line! I know the fic you use it in, but a lot of people say that. I just felt like it. Sorry.

All right. Also thanks to:

**Linnetjo**

***Wazzup Girl*** 

**Small_lady**

***Altra***

If you didn't have a special thanks after yours, I'm really sorry, but thank you so much for reviewing! And if anyone's name didn't get mentioned—please note these are only from my most recent fics—I'm sorry! I'lldo my best to remember next time, but I'm half-asleep… ::conks out and starts to snore:: actually, all the way asleep. Ah well.

Bye! And PLEASE review!!!


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